Spiiderweb™

"A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people." -- Thomas Mann

If so, I must be a writer.

Friday, June 01, 2007

Police arrest 8-year-old serial killer in E India

DO NOT READ THIS UNLESS YOU WANT TO GET VERY UPSET.

I'm serious.

An eight-year-old boy from Central Indian state Bihar's Begusarai area has been arrested for killing a six-month-old girl from his neighborhood in the Manopur Musahari village, news website ndtv.com reported here Friday.

The boy, Amarjeet, is alleged to have crushed the little girl to death with a stone and buried her body.

What's even more shocking is that the boy is a serial killer. A year back he had killed his six-month-old younger sister, and a cousin.

"She was sleeping in the school. I took her a little away, and killed her with a stone and buried her," the website quoted him assaying.

The police consider Amarjeet to be mentally deranged and are questioning him about the murders.

"When we met the boy he said that he'd put the girl to sleep in the fields after killing her," the website quoted Shatrughan Kumar, Officer-in-Charge, Begusarai Police station, as saying.

The revelation that Amarjeet is a serial killer has sent shock waves in the area, and the police now await the medical report to unravel the boy's mind.

I'm sorry. I post news. Some of it is very disgusting, but that's the way of the world.

We are humbled

Good riddance and watch the door

A Rove protégé? Well he's gone and that's a good thing. Thank you Ms Martha Stewart.

Before joining the Bush Administration, Dan Bartlett served as a senior spokesman and Director of Rapid Response for the Bush for President campaign in Austin, Texas. He has served President Bush since 1993, working on both successful campaigns for Governor of Texas. From 1994 to 1998, Bartlett worked in the Governor's Office as Deputy to the Policy Director. During the 1998 re-election campaign, he served as Issues Director. Before joining President Bush, Mr. Bartlett worked for Karl Rove and Company, an Austin-based political consulting firm. He has served the President for over ten years.

Must read IMHO

Yeah, I know I'm a lazy ass blogger, but I do direct you to the good stuff, right?

Peter Berkowitz, a Hoover Institution senior fellow, has written for the Wall Street Journal an ambitious and largely thoughtful lament on the sorry state of conservatism. "The American right," he says, with both regret and praise, is in a "cauldron of debate," whereas "the left," with its "ranks increasingly untroubled by debate or dissent," is not.

Putting aside the misguided tendency of both camps to see each other as monolithic in thought and unified in deed, and putting aside as well the left's very real and considerable infighting, Mr. Berkowitz has a point: The right is unraveling -- ideologically, organizationally and emotionally.

Update of an earlier post (second one below)

Looks like my analysis was correct. For which we must give thanks.

Dr. Gwen Huitt, director of the hospital's Adult Infectious Disease Care Unit, said at an afternoon news conference that Speaker was not coughing, had no fever and was considered at low risk for infecting others. He is restricted to his room, she said, but his wife is allowed to visit.

However...

A senior House member wants to know how a dangerously infected man managed to get through U.S. Customs and Border Protection even though his passport had been flagged in their computer system.

That's a damn good question. Doesn't the system work? Do we have idiots in charge of reading the computer screens? What if the passport were flagged as an al-Qaeda member?

Must read IMHO

Can you show compassion?

Its going to be interesting to see how everyone reacts to this story. Will people show compassion or anger or hatred?

An Atlanta attorney quarantined with a dangerous strain of tuberculosis apologized to his fellow plane passengers in an interview aired Friday, and insisted he was told he wasn't contagious or a threat to anyone.

"I've lived in this state of constant fear and anxiety and exhaustion for a week now, and to think that someone else is now feeling that, I wouldn't want anyone to feel that way. It's awful," Andrew Speaker told ABC's "Good Morning America" from his hospital room in Denver.

Sitting in street clothes but speaking through a face mask, he repeatedly apologized to the dozens of airline passengers and crew members now anxiously awaiting their own test results because of the exposure to him.

"I don't expect for people to ever forgive me. I just hope that they understand that I truly never meant to put them in harm," he said, his voice cracking.[emphasis mine]

I'll admit my first reaction, before reading his comments, made me angry. How could someone be so stupid and expose innocent people to this disease? Now he says he didn't know the danger and I'll take him at his word. Its reasonable. Only a very cruel person would pass on AIDES or TB. I give this guy the benefit of the doubt.

Must read IMHO

I really am trying to avoid posting about the '08 election because its too early, but put this in the back of your mind for now.

I've been reading up on the latest Republican presidential candidate, and in an article in the new Weekly Standard when the following line caught my eye:

The conference call began around 2:00 pm. Ken Rietz, a top executive with Burson Marsteller and a close adviser to Thompson, welcomed the participants."

Kenneth Rietz. I knew I'd heard of that name before.

I used my MacIntosh's function that lets you search for any string of characters that's on your hard drive. I found what I was looking for in my "Watergate" file. The following is a quote from my favorite book about the Nixon presidency, Jonathan Schell's The Time of Illusion (page 221):

In Washington, a taxi-driver was hired by the Nixon reelection committee to join the Muskie campaign. He was taken on as a volunteer, and was eventually assigned the task of carrying the Senator's mail between his Senate office and his campaign headquarters. On the way he would give the Senator's campaign documents, including internal memoranda and drafts of speeches and position papers, to a Republican operative whose code name was Fat Jack and who held a post in the Office of Economic Opportunity. Fat Jack would photograph the papers in a downtown office rented for that purpose, and would pass the film along; for the first few months...to Kenneth Rietz, director of the youth division...and then, after Rietz withdrew...to E. Howard Hunt on a Washington Street corner.

A current Republican presidential contender has a Watergate spy as a "close advisor": surely interesting, and perhaps even relevant to the character of the candidate.

Give me control of a governmental agency or company and I'll grab many cronies in a flash. They are intelligent, articulate and competent. Do they always agree with me on teams or in meetings? Hahaha. Not by a long shot. They've often challenged me and often convinced me I was wrong. I plead my being human.

Cronyism isn't a dirty word nor necessarily bad. Jack was right to bring Bobby on board.

Ah, but then we get to Bush. See how I brought him up again?

Bush does not engage in cronyism. Bush requires fealty with absolutely no requirement for intelligence, articulation and competence. In fact, I can think of absolutely no appointment Bush has ever made of someone I think an intelligent official would appoint. He is always wrong.

Georgie Anne Geyer writes today in the Dallas Morning News about President Bush’s strange behavior during a recent meeting with “[f]riends of his from Texas.”

(…)

Friends of [Bush’s] from Texas were shocked recently to find him nearly wild-eyed, thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeated “I am the president!” He also made it clear he was setting Iraq up so his successor could not get out of “our country’s destiny.”

This is the second time in recent weeks that accounts have surfaced of Bush lashing out or “ranting” in private meetings when responding to criticism of his Iraq policy. Chris Nelson of the Nelson Report offered a similar account earlier this month:

[S]ome big money players up from Texas recently paid a visit to their friend in the White House. The story goes that they got out exactly one question, and the rest of the meeting consisted of The President in an extended whine, a rant, actually, about no one understands him, the critics are all messed up, if only people would see what he’s doing things would be OK…etc., etc. This is called a “bunker mentality” and it’s not attractive when a friend does it. When the friend is the President of the United States, it can be downright dangerous. Apparently the Texas friends were suitably appalled, hence the story now in circulation.

It’s only a matter of time before Dubya grows out a big, bushy beard and starts walking around shirtless, pointing his sword at people….

Wouldn't such action frighten you? It would scare the shit out of me to see Bush behave this way.

And you know he has to be under medication, but it can't seem to control him. Folks, be afraid. Be very afraid. You have a total loony in charge of your government and your future.

Don't We Have a Constitution, Not a King?

It seems only sane to have an emergency powers program. Had the USSR sent a few missiles to America it would have been imperative to have a central command of the nation.

Bush has issued a directive that would place all governmental powers in his hands in the case of a catastrophic emergency. If a terrorist attack happens before the 2008 election, could Bush and Cheney use this to avoid relinquishing power to a successor administration?

But in Bush's hands, such an authority is fucking chilling. Press Iran. Force them to retaliate. Take dictatorial control of the government.

Do you feel the ice water in your veins?

Since March 9, 1933, the United States has been in a state of declared national emergency. In fact, there are now in effect four presidentially proclaimed states of national emergency: In addition to the national emergency declared by President Roosevelt in 1933, there are also the national emergency proclaimed by President Truman on December 16, 1950, during the Korean conflict, and the states of national emergency declared by President Nixon on March 23, 1970, and August 15, 1971.

These proclamations give force to 470 provisions of federal law. These hundreds of statutes delegate to the president extraordinary powers, ordinarily exercised by the Congress, which affect the lives of American citizens in a host of all-encompassing ways. This vast range of powers, taken together, confers enough authority to rule the country without reference to normal constitutional processes.

Militants Claim Execution of US Embassy Staff

As with much of what I find and post, I can't verify this article other than to link to it to show it exists, but it sure sounds probable. I also seem to have a knack for recognizing stories which are true. Only time will tell.

An Iraqi militant group with links to the al-Qa'ida network has apparently issued a statement claiming that it has executed two employees of the US embassy in Iraq.

Internet forums carried a statement in Arabic attributed to the so-called “Islamic State of Iraq,” claiming that the group had “implemented God’s judgment” on the two, along with having obtained money from them.

The apparent statement was dated Thursday, but referred to the executions as having taken place on Monday.

The statement has not been independently verified, but it bears the hallmarks of earlier “Islamic State of Iraq” communiqués, and appears in Internet sites that regularly carry the militant group’s propaganda.

However, my point is two-fold. I hope the story is wrong. Embassy employees are just government grunts trying to get along. They are not part of Bush's "grand scheme" for the Mid-East.

And what's the point of building the world's largest embassy, a colossal show of ostentation, if the government will have trouble staffing it because they can't protect the grunts?

I hope you appreciate the talent I have of pulling Bush's name into almost all posts. It ain't always easy.

Conflicting Accounts of Militants' Clashes; Haditha Victims Shot in Head

Bless the MSM. They can be so...trustworthy, unlike bloggers who shoot from the hip.

The two major dailies print differing accounts of major fighting between Sunni militant groups in Baghdad's lawless Amiriya district, providing different analyses of the cause and development of the events, which pitted the Islamic Army and the 1920 Revolution Brigades against al-Qa'ida affiliated groups. As importantly, the two papers print contradictory accounts of US involvement in the fighting, with the Times writing that American forces intervened, but the Post suggesting that they had not.

In other news, US lawyers argued that the victims in the November 2005 Haditha slayings were not killed primarily by grenades, but instead by seemininly well-placed gunshots.

More coddling of "good" terrorists

Something else under the radar of the MSM.

I've written before about the case of Robert Ferro, a case which has received zero national attention despite the fact that Ferro was caught with the largest cache of weapons ever seized in the United States (more than 1,500 firearms inclulding 35 machine guns!), the fact that Ferro is a man who had served two years in prison for the possession of five pounds of C-4 plastic explosive, and despite the fact that he claimed his arsenal was to be used in an attack on Cuba. Evidently that last fact was the critical one.

Must read IMHO

Its long (very), but absolutely great (very?). Just a mere snippet.

The "in your face" efforts of the Bush administration to minimize the role of Congress and to achieve political control of the judiciary are simply more public manifestations of trends that occurred in a more quiet fashion in past administrations, Republican and Democratic alike. When America elects a leader who states clearly that he or she will work with their equal partners in governance, the Congress, for the good of the country, and who will acknowledge the supremacy of law set forth in the form of binding legislation passed by the will of Congress void of any limiting or contradicting "presidential signing statement," then we will finally have a leader who is truly worthy of the title "President of the United States of America."

They can't get a break

There are always peripheral problems which are rarely, if ever, mentioned.

Recent studies by medical colleges, and statistics from local morgues and hospitals, have shown a higher than expected number of cancer-related deaths in Iraq's southern provinces. According to specialists, the main causes are the increased use of unsafe products in agriculture and the long-term effects of war on health.

Psychological stresses and strains engendered by years of conflict, violence, displacement and uncertainty have weakened people's natural resistance to disease. This has been compounded by the lack of skilled medical staff and poor facilities and equipment.

"Lack of treatment for cancer patients and outdated radiotherapy and chemotherapy techniques have led to lower survival rates of patients. The shortage of oncologists, who have fled to neighbouring countries, has worsened the situation," said Hussein Abdel-Kareem, an oncologist and senior official in the Basra Health Secretariat.

Bush to Send Meghan O'Sullivan to Iraq

President Bush will be sending one of his top aides to Iraq to assist the Iraqis "meet the benchmarks that the Congress and the President expect to get passed," he announced in a press conference with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

She is a protégé of Richard Haass, who left the State Department as policy director in July 2003 and became president of the Council on Foreign Relations, and she is neither a neocon nor an ideologue. She has even earned the suspicion of conservatives for having proposed engaging with Iran and for suggesting--before 9/11--that it is unproductive to brand a state a "rogue regime."

How in hell does someone with brains get posted?

Oops! Maybe not such a brain.

The expert explained that many factors shape the difficult Pakistani-Afghan relationship. He pointed to the decades-long conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan and mentioned the Durand Line, the supposed border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The 1,600-mile-long line, imposed on Afghanistan by the British in 1893, divides Pashtun and Baluch regions and separates Afghanistan from territory it has claimed as its own. Afghanistan has never officially recognized the Durand Line, which has been a great source of strife between the two countries.

By referring to the Durand Line, the expert was noting that US efforts in the region are complicated by pre-9/11 history. O'Sullivan, according to this expert (who wishes not to be named), didn't know what the Durand Line was. The expert was stunned. O'Sullivan is the most senior Bush Administration official handling Afghanistan policy. If she wasn't familiar with this basic point, US policy-making on Afghanistan was in trouble.

My mistake. I got my hopes up unnecessarily. I should known better by now.

Who needs polls?

By Frank Newport:

President Bush mentioned the Gallup Poll while fund raising in New Jersey on Wednesday, saying "If we govern for what's right — not based upon the latest Gallup poll — we will continue to lead this country."

George W. Bush has been expressing these views on the nature of presidential decision-making in a representative democracy for many years. I address the debate on this issue in great detail in my book Polling Matters. The book’s subtitle is: “Why Leaders Must Listen to the Wisdom of the People”.

Since Gallup polls are nothing more than the scientific assessment of the views of the people of the nation, we can assume that President Bush is saying something like this: “If we govern for what’s right – not based upon the views of the American people – we will continue to lead this country.” The question of course: Who decides what’s “right” in a democracy if not the people?

I appreciate this quote from former President Theodore Roosevelt:

I believe the majority of the plain people of the United States will, day in and day out, make fewer mistakes in governing themselves than any smaller class or body of men, no matter what their training, will make in trying to govern them.

As George Gallup once said: “Political societies are most secure when deeply rooted in the political activity and interest of the mass of the people and least secure when social judgment is the prerogative of the chosen few.”

I can't see you. I can't see you. Hehehe.

That's it in a nutshell. Bush couldn't care less what the American people want or think. He decides what's "right".

Must read IMHO

OK, you can relax now

News from United States Central Command (CENTCOM).

Less than 10 miles from training camps that produced many of the 9/11 hijackers, a team of coalition servicemembers are working together to make sure the area once home to Osama Bin Laden's terrorist organization becomes an environment that will deny such people a support base ever again.

The al-Qaeda problem is under control. Sheesh!

I'd like to believe such a thing, but al-Qaeda isn't location specific. Take away a little real estate and they'll just train elsewhere. Its all a fucking shell game.

The top 10 weirdest USB drives ever

You are nothing more than cow dung

And there's nothing you can do about it.

Recent findings shed new light on the increasingly unequal terrain of American society. Starting at the top executive level: You may have thought, as I did, that the guys in the C-suites operated as a team -- or, depending on your point of view, a pack or gang -- each getting his fair share of the take. But no, the rising tide in executive pay does not lift all yachts equally. The latest pay gap to worry about is the one between the CEO and his -- or very rarely her -- third in command.

According to a just-reported study by Carola Frydman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Raven E. Saks at the Federal Reserve, 30-40 years ago, the CEO's of major companies earned 80 percent more, on average, than the third-highest-paid executives. By the early part of the 21st century, however, the gap CEO and the third in command had ballooned up to 260 percent.

Now take a look at what's happening at the very bottom of the economic spectrum, where you might have pictured low-wage workers trudging between food banks or mendicants dwelling in cardboard boxes. It turns out, though, that the bottom is a lot lower than that.

So keep risking your lives driving to work and stressing out over your job. Once you're dead it all ends.

A very strange article

The title makes sense. The first couple quotes make sense, but then it goes all ooglie googlie.

The title: A Call To Lower the Speed Limit to 55

Fifty-five! Now there's a number that used to unite the United States. Coast to coast the law of the land was fifty-five miles an hour. Just as patriotic Americans worked together and planted victory gardens to fight food shortages during WWII, in the 1970s, with help from the insightful policies of an enlightened congress, Americans responded to the OPEC energy embargo with character and resolve. We reduced our consumption of petroleum.

See what I mean?

My reason for posting about this is simple. I HATED the 55 MPH speed limit. It was like swimming in pudding. It never felt "right" to drive so slowly. But...and its a huge but, that speed limit saved thousands or millions of gallons of gasoline and probably saved hundreds or thousands of lives from accidents. Sometimes self sacrifice is necessary and 55 really is a minimal sacrifice.

Personally, I'd be happy if the maximum speed were set at about 40 mph. Hell, its much faster than walking or biking and would save even more gasoline and lives. It would also slow the pace of life to a level people could enjoy.

Just because I want to

Hey, its my blog and I can post what I want.

Nuts. I want nuts, damn it!

Possibly interesting story. Probably not.

There was a squirell in my neighborhood. I put a trail of peanuts on the floor in my house and opened the back door. The damn squirell came right up to my chair eating the nuts. It was a kewl encounter with nature.

Yahoo! green

A special treat for you

The principal reason we came to Somsak, however, was for one very special item: Fried ice cream. Apparently, Mr. Somsak takes a scoop of ice cream, dips it into some thick cake batter, and then throws it into a deep fryer for a few seconds. The ice cream doesn't melt, but the dough cooks through and through. It was a novel dessert, most certainly, and it really tasted very good.

???????

Give peace a chance

Guess how well the good ol' US of A made out. Let's just say it didn't make it into the top 50%.

The first study to rank countries around the world according to their peacefulness and the drivers that create and sustain their peace was launched today. The Global Peace Index studied 121 countries from Algeria to Zimbabwe and its publication comes one week before the leaders of the world's richest countries gather for the G8 summit in Germany to discuss issues of global concern.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

No problem

I'm sure Bush will take this threat as seriously as he took the CIA warnings before 9/11. Gawd I feel so comfortable.

An American member of al-Qaida warned President Bush on Tuesday to end U.S. involvement in all Muslim lands or face an attack worse than the Sept. 11 suicide assault, according to a new videotape.

Wearing a white robe and a turban, Adam Yehiye Gadahn, who also goes by the name Azzam al-Amriki, said al-Qaida would not negotiate on its demands.

"Your failure to heed our demands ... means that you and your people will ... experience things which will make you forget all about the horrors of September 11th, Afghanistan and Iraq and Virginia Tech," he said in the seven-minute video.

YES!

Jesus H Christ carrying flowers, will America ever realize what an asshole they have for a president? The guy fucks the world almost daily and we stand for it.

Mr Zoellick was a paid consultant on the Enron advisory board before joining the US administration.

He also owned Enron shares worth between $15,000 and $50,000, which he sold after joining the administration.

Mr Zoellick is the cabinet official in charge of negotiating trade deals for the Bush White House.

He is trying to open up foreign markets to US companies, including ambitious plans for expanding the North American Free Trade Area (currently including Canada, US, and Mexico) to the rest of the Latin America - a goal strongly backed by US industry.

Her Way: A New Book Explores Hillary's Iraq Problem and Why It's Not Going Away

Sometimes I really hate the fucking internets tubes. ARGHHH!!!1!

OK, I'm calm now. The thing worked.

Her Way, a new book about Hillary Clinton, documents her entire Senate career and the triangulation and shiftiness in her stance regarding the war as she tried to keep step with public opinion.

That little game of political chicken Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton played during the Senate vote on the Iraq spending bill Thursday night would not have surprised you if you had read Her Way, the new book by New York Times investigative reporters Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta, Jr. which I've just finished.

Neither Clinton nor Obama were on the Senate floor when the voting began. Sources tell me that Obama was holding off to see if Hillary would go first. When it was clear she wouldn't, and time was running out on the vote, he headed into the chamber and voted no. Less than a minute later, Clinton barreled in and did the same.

It was yet another example of her instinct for "followership." Anyone willing to bet that if Obama had voted yes, Hillary would still have voted no?

The idea that Clinton is all tactics and calculation -- and would rather stick her finger in the air to see which way the political wind is blowing than actually take the lead on something -- is painstakingly documented in Her Way. Forget the stuff about Monica, Gennifer Flowers, Vince Foster, Hillary's record as a lawyer, or the Clintons' 20-year plan for both of them to become president. The money chapters are the ones on Iraq. When it comes to Hillary's shape-shifting stances, explanations, and votes on the war, Gerth and Van Natta offer a definitive and chilling portrait of a politician solely driven by political expedience -- even when it comes to life and death matters such as Iraq.

It's a portrait that will likely prove to be an anvil around her neck throughout the 2008 campaign, unless she can somehow transform herself from political weather vane to political leader.

Is there no end to the fucking secrecy?

My company would fire my ass if I behaved like members of the Bush administration.

A lawyer for Vice President Dick Cheney told the Secret Service in September to eliminate data on who visited Cheney at his official residence, a newly disclosed letter states. The Sept. 13, 2006, letter from Cheney's lawyer says logs for Cheney's residence on the grounds of the Naval Observatory are subject to the Presidential Records Act.

Such a designation prevents the public from learning who visited the vice president.

The Justice Department filed the letter Friday in a lawsuit by a private group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, seeking the identities of conservative religious leaders who visited Cheney at his official residence.

This is what you get when you mix religion with government

Malaysia's top secular court on Wednesday rejected a woman's bid to be legally recognised as Christian after converting from Islam, saying the matter must be decided by a religious court.

Lina Joy had sought to have the word "Islam" removed from her national identity card but the federal court threw out her case, deciding that only one of the country's Islamic sharia tribunals could legally certify her conversion.

Renouncing the faith is one of the gravest sins in Islam, and Joy's case has raised questions about religious freedom here as well as the exact legal relationship between the mainly Muslim country's secular and religious courts.

Joy, an ethnic Muslim Malay who was born Azlina Jailani, had argued that she should not be bound by the Islamic courts because she is now a Christian.

The ruling comes amid mounting racial and religious tensions in Malaysia, where minority religious groups fear their rights are being undermined, even though the country is traditionally seen as moderate.

This is what you get when you mix religion with government

Malaysia's top secular court on Wednesday rejected a woman's bid to be legally recognised as Christian after converting from Islam, saying the matter must be decided by a religious court.

Lina Joy had sought to have the word "Islam" removed from her national identity card but the federal court threw out her case, deciding that only one of the country's Islamic sharia tribunals could legally certify her conversion.

Renouncing the faith is one of the gravest sins in Islam, and Joy's case has raised questions about religious freedom here as well as the exact legal relationship between the mainly Muslim country's secular and religious courts.

Joy, an ethnic Muslim Malay who was born Azlina Jailani, had argued that she should not be bound by the Islamic courts because she is now a Christian.

The ruling comes amid mounting racial and religious tensions in Malaysia, where minority religious groups fear their rights are being undermined, even though the country is traditionally seen as moderate.

Must read IMHO

OK, he's officially out of control

Is Bush far behind? Inquiring minds want to know.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday called opposition news channel Globovision an enemy of the state and said he would do what was needed to stop it from inciting violence, only days after he shut another opposition broadcaster.

Tens of thousands of Venezuelans marched in Caracas in a fourth consecutive day of protests over Chavez's closure of the RCTV network - a move which has sparked international criticism that the leftist leader's reforms are undermining democracy.

State television showed hundreds of government supporters marching in downtown Caracas celebrating Chavez's decision.

"Enemies of the homeland, particularly those behind the scenes, I will give you a name: Globovision. Greetings gentlemen of Globovision, you should watch where you are going," Chavez said in a broadcast all channels had to show.

"I recommend you take a tranquilizer and get into gear, because if not, I am am going to do what is necessary."

OK, I'm a blog whore, K?

For some reason this link doesn't work for me, but I had to comment.

Cheney Attempting to Constrain Bush's Choices on Iran Conflict: Staff Engaged in Insubordination Against President Bush

There is a race currently underway between different flanks of the administration to determine the future course of US-Iran policy.By Steve Clemons | The Wahington Note May 24, 2007There is a race currently underway between different flanks of the administration to determine the future course of US-Iran policy.

There have been many accounts of Cheney's trying to undermine Bush vis-a-vis Iran.

He's a dyed in the wool neocon who will never be satisfied until the US turns the entire Mid-East into glass. Bush is an idiot and incapable of directing foreign policy, but Cheney is a fucking psycho who needs to be reined in.

My impression is he sees his life coming to an end soon and he wants to make his mark on the world. I personally don't understand that, but I'm not a megalomaniac.

Referencing my last post

It's horrific to lose so many men and women in an illegal war. Their deaths and injuries are unjustified and painful.

But warriors who sign up for military duty know death and injury are part of the contract. They hope and pray they won't be inflicted, but they know its the rules of the game.

However, teenage girls who only want to live a "normal" life are not part of such a contract. They quite likely have no political allegiance and just want to go to school, hang out in the mall and be stupid like all of us did at that age.

Bush and his minions have ruined that for them and I will NEVER forgive him.

Would the same problems arise without Bush's imperialism? Not sure. But I do know he hasn't made the situation any better.

Can you imagine heading off to school or work and not knowing if you'll be shot or blown apart? This is the reality in Iraq.

I'm sorry. Have to take a break after this post

Don't read this without tissues. Its a fucking tearjerker.

It’s early morning and there is the incongruous, cheery sound of birds chirping as this street rings with the bang of metal gates being kicked in and locks being wrenched apart – a grating sound like teeth being pulled out with pliers.

Purple bougainvillea spills from the high walls in front of the houses. The sunshine hasn’t begun to burn yet as soldiers from the Strykers 5th battalion 20th Infantry Regiment go from house to house looking for fighters and weapons in neighborhood thought to harbor al-Qaeda. There are no polite knocks. They operate on the assumption that when the gate or the door swings open there could be gunmen behind it.

At this house they’re met at the gate by Selma and her two eldest daughters, determined to leave for school despite the soldiers and armored vehicles in the streets and the possibility of getting caught in crossfire. The girls, dressed in black skirts and flowing white blouses with blue headscarves covering their hair, are more worried about being late. They’re sitting for high-school exams and the school was closed for the last two days because of fears by the government the students would be kidnapped.

“It will take us an hour to get there and we want to be on time,” says Yasmine, who is 17.

She and her sister Sabreen want to be teachers.

There are no taxis in the part of town and no cars in the street. Many of the families have fled to safety for Syria or northern Iraq. The girls’ father, a farmer, is too ill to take them to school. The phones don’t work and there is no local radio or TV station to tell them whether the school will be open.

“It won’t be dangerous for them?” her mother asks me. “I’m so afraid for them. Should I tell them it’s alright to go?” she asks me to ask the soldiers.

The platoon commander, 1st Lt Thomas Gaines tells her it’s fine. He radios to his soldiers moving through the neighborhood to let them know that the girls will be walking through the area.

‘”Thank you,” Yasmine says solemnly in her high school English. “Goodbye,” says Sabreen, enunciating each syllable.

Selma, watches them as they walk away. “I’m so afraid for them,” she tells me.

We get visitors

I reluctantly agree

Cindy Sheehan did many good things. She united people, drew attention to the petulant child holding the presidency and made people THINK about Iraq and the horrendous deaths there. It was probably inevitable she would crack under the strain and I believe she has.

I too think about abandoning the Democratic party because it seems like Republican-light, but refuse to throw in the towel. We can fix the party.

On the most important point, though, Cindy and I also agree- it is long past time for this war to end. Go home, Cindy, get a job, mend fences with your family and friends, and work to have a good, happy life.

One hole we may never get out of

Must read IMHO

I don't usually excerpt the last paragraph, but...

None of this is meant to indicate that the volatile admixture of Muscovite monopolistic authoritarianism and Iranian mullahocracy is going to have beneficent results for world [oil] markets. At this point, no ones knows what such a blend might bring. But while it is almost certainly unlikely under this sabre-rattling administration, the US needs to recognize that there are ways that such collusion might have been addressed, and could be addressed now, to the benefit of all. In fact, the current collaboration between Moscow and Tehran (and China) might have never arisen had it not been for the utterly misguided fantasies of those who imagined the US as the agent of a "benevolent global hegemony," especially when that "benevolence" is to be delivered by 500 lb bombs, white phosphorous and 20mm cannon rounds.

Must read IMHO

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

This ain't Russia many years ago

I'm sorry, but I can't help feeling this is a sneak attack and I can't stomach it.

We've written extensively on The Fix about the power of Markos Moulitsas and his Web site, Daily Kos. Markos has become an iconic figure in the progressive netroots community and has considerable influence over those online activists.

So, we were more than a little intrigued when Jeff Jarvis over at Channel '08 linked to a post written by Markos last week that urged his readers to start videotaping every single appearance by a Republican official or candidate in hopes of using the footage against them in the course of the campaign.

Almost all candidates will say something stupid. Duh! Blindsiding them like this isn't fair game.

Just say NO!

This is NOT universal health care, but universal health insurance with subsidies to the insurance companies. This is NOT what America needs.

Seeking to add heft to his presidential bid, Democrat Barack Obama is offering a sweeping plan that would require every American to have health coverage and calls on government, businesses and consumers to share the costs of the program.

Obama said putting in place universal health coverage has been debated for decades, but the time has finally come to act. He said his plan could save the average consumer $2,500 a year and bring health care to all.

"The time has come for universal, affordable health care in America," Obama said in remarks prepared for delivery at the unveiling of his plan Tuesday in Iowa City.

A copy of his remarks and documents describing the program were obtained by The Associated Press.

Under Obama's proposal, every American would be required to carry health insurance, and the Illinois senator would create a National Health Insurance Exchange to monitor insurance companies in offering the coverage. In essence, Obama's plan retains the private insurance system but injects additional money into the system to pay for the expanded coverage.

Until politicians quit taking money from the insurance industry, this is all they will ever offer you. Keep those two terms separate.

Update: Changed quite to quit. Gawd I hate it when I do such stupid shit.

Feeling secure? Well don't #16

I really don't need to comment.

Legions of ill-trained, low-paid private security guards are protecting tempting terrorist targets across the U.S.

Richard Bergendahl is one of them. He fights the war on terrorism in Los Angeles, protecting a high-rise office building for $19,000 a year. Down the block is an even taller skyscraper, identified by President Bush as a building chosen for a Sept. 11-style airplane attack.

I want one

Damn the crash tests. I want it.

The world’s first commercial compressed air-powered vehicle is rolling towards the production line. The Air Car, developed by ex-Formula One engineer Guy Nègre, will be built by India’s largest automaker, Tata Motors.

The Air Car uses compressed air to push its engine’s pistons. It is anticipated that approximately 6000 Air Cars will be cruising the streets of India by 2008. If the manufacturers have no surprises up their exhaust pipes the car will be practical and reasonably priced. The CityCat model will clock out at 68 mph with a driving range of 125 miles.

Refueling is simple and will only take a few minutes. That is, if you live nearby a gas station with custom air compressor units. The cost of a fill up is approximately $2.00. If a driver doesn't have access to a compressor station, they will be able to plug into the electrical grid and use the car’s built-in compressor to refill the tank in about 4 hours.

The compressed air technology is basically just a way of storing electrical energy without the need for costly, heavy, and occasionally toxic batteries. So, in a sense, this is an electric car. It just doesn't have an electric motor.

But don't let anyone tell you this is an "emissions free" vehicle. Sure, the only thing coming out of the tailpipe is air. But, chances are, fossil fuels were burned to create the electricity. In India, that mostly means coal. But the carbon emissions per mile of these things still far outdoes any gasoline car on the market.

Elementeo’s 13-year-old CEO, highlight of TiECON

The buzz on the expo floor was about Silicon Valley gaming startup Elementeo and its precocious 13-year old founder and chief executive, Anshul Samar. “We inject fun into education,” the fast talking entrepreneur confidently proclaimed, touting his new fantasy role playing board game which he believes will change the way kids learn chemistry.

...

Samar argues that textbooks are boring and kids would rather spend their time battling enemies, blowing things up with bombs, and yes, even giving their opponents lead poisoning. So he created a fantasy role playing game that combines the rapturous teenage joys of competition and carnage with the exciting properties of the periodic table of chemical elements.

Sulfur - Elementeo Card Deck

Here’s how the game works: You command an army of chemical elements, compounds and catalysts — represented within a 66-card deck (the fire and brimstone card at left is for “Sulfur,” for example). Your opponent has his own deck with the same number of cards. Your goal is to battle your competitor and reduce his IQ down to zero. Pit your oxygen card against your opponent’s iron card, for example, and you learn that you create rust. Score one for oxygen. Kind of like rock-paper-scissors, but with chemicals, dice and 66 impressively illustrated cards featuring monster-themed caricatures of chemicals.

Taliban claims to launch nationwide offensive in Afghanistan

The Taliban claimed it would launch a fierce nationwide offensive against government and foreign targets in Afghanistan from Sunday.

The Taliban would initiate an offensive dubbed Ambush across Afghanistan, a Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi told Xinhua by satellite phone from an undisclosed place.

Taliban fighters would adopt various tactics including suicide bombing, roadside bombing, ambush and so on, he said, adding the Taliban was aiming at causing great loss and casualties to Afghan and foreign troops.

The spokesman did not say how long the offensive would last.

It takes time to see how fierce the Taliban's so-called offensive would be and whether the Taliban is only carrying out a propaganda campaign.

It seemingly has been quite peaceful in Afghanistan on Sunday for the time being.

Due to rising Taliban-linked insurgency, over 1,600 persons, most of whom were Taliban militants, have been killed in Afghanistan this year.

Must read IMHO

Is there any country outside a handful America is not supplying with munitions?

So, what does this all mean for US policy? If, as I'm suggesting, we can't effectively prop up Fatah by such means as military aid, are we doomed to sit this one out and just hope that Hamas doesn't win? No, definitely not. It's actually quite simple: when it comes to strengthening Palestinian moderates, the best approach is to show that the path of moderation and dialogue actually brings results. That means, for instance, that the Bush administration should be involved in brokering a deal between Olmert and Abbas that, upon completion, leads to Israeli withdrawals from some Palestinian territories, the closing down of certain checkpoints, and other positive outcomes.

Iran says it has uncovered spy networks of U.S. and its allies 'infiltrating' from Iraq

This should come as no surprise to anyone. And why won't the White House just lie about it like they do everything else?

Iran said Saturday it has uncovered spy rings organized by the United States and its Western allies, claiming on state-run television that the espionage networks were made up of “infiltrating elements from the Iraqi occupiers.”

The Intelligence Ministry has “succeeded in identifying and striking blows at several spy networks comprised of infiltrating elements from the Iraqi occupiers in western, southwestern and central Iran,” said the statement, using shorthand for United States and its allies.

The broadcast did not elaborate, saying further details would be published within days.

Meanwhile, the state IRNA news agency said the uncovered networks “enjoyed guidance from intelligence services of the occupying powers in Iraq” and also that “Iraqi groups” were “involved in the case.”

The White House said Saturday that it does not confirm or deny allegations about intelligence matters.

And ABC News told them about it already. Sheesh.

The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.

The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject, say President Bush has signed a "nonlethal presidential finding" that puts into motion a CIA plan that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of Iran's currency and international financial transactions.

"I can't confirm or deny whether such a program exists or whether the president signed it, but it would be consistent with an overall American approach trying to find ways to put pressure on the regime," said Bruce Riedel, a recently retired CIA senior official who dealt with Iran and other countries in the region.

And what's with all this "confirm or deny" nonsense? Whatever happened to "no comment".

Disuptes over US Airstrike in Baghdad, Blackwater Shooting of Iraqi Driver

Gas line - Iraq

I've read in a couple places how the news coming out of Iraq almost never seems to include airstrikes even though you know damn well they're taking place. I'd noticed that too.

Blackwater is also rarely mentioned.

And they certainly won't report about air strikes on innocent people in line to buy fuel.

Several controversial incidents involving US forces and US-contracted guards show up in today’s Sunday papers, including an airstrike in Sadr City which the American military says frustrated an ambush on a US-Iraqi raiding party, and which locals say struck civilians waiting to refuel their cars.

Two other controversial incidents involved Blackwater, the largest security contractor in Iraq, which was involved in two shooting events last week, including the killing of an Iraqi motorist which led to a standoff with Iraqi forces.

...

Did US forces thwart an ambush or did they kill five people waiting in Baghdad’s notoriously long lines for gasoline? A US-Iraqi raid in Sadr City on Saturday morning targeted a suspected smuggler of weapons and fighters between Iraq and Iran. After the operation, US forces called in airstrikes on vehicles in the area as they withdrew. The US military said that “nine vehicles moved into the target area and were positioning themselves to block and ambush," but eyewitnesses, a Mahdi Army leader, and an Interior Ministry official said that the five who died in the strikes were not insurgents, as US forces claimed, but were cars lined up at a gas station, according to accounts in both the Times and the Post.

Children - Where Do They Get Their Ideas From?

I only steal the best stuff.

A kindergarten pupil told his teacher he'd found a cat. She asked him if it was dead or alive."Dead." she was informed."How do you know?" she asked her pupil."Because I pissed in its ear and it didn't move" answered the child innocently."You did WHAT?!?" the teacher exclaimed in surprise."You know", explained the boy, "I leaned over and went 'Pssst!' and it didn't move."

A small boy is sent to bed by his father. Five minutes later.... "Da-d....""What?""I'm thirsty. Can you bring a drink of water?""No. You had your chance. Lights out."Five minutes later: "Da-aaaad.....""WHAT?""I'm THIRSTY. Can I have a drink of water??""I told you NO! If you ask again, I'll have to spank you!!"Five minutes later......"Daaaa-aaaad.....""WHAT!""When you come in to spank me, can you bring a drink of water?"

An exasperated mother, whose son was always getting into mischief, finally asked him, "How do you expect to get into Heaven?"The boy thought it over and said, "Well, I'll run in and out and in and out and keep slamming the door until St. Peter says, "For Heaven's sake, Dylan, come in or stay out!'"

One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm a mother was tucking her son into bed. She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice, "Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?".The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug."I can't dear" she said. "I have to sleep in Daddy's room".A long silence was broken at last by his shaky little voice: "The big sissy".

It was that time, during the Sunday morning service, for the children's sermon. All the children were invited to come forward. One little girl was wearing a particularly pretty dress and, as she sat down, the pastor leaned over and said, "That is a very pretty dress. Is it your Easter Dress?".The little girl replied, directly into the pastor's clip-on microphone, "Yes, and my Mom says it's a bitch to iron.".

When I was six months pregnant with my third child, my three year old came into the room when I was just getting ready to get into the shower. She said, "Mommy, you are getting fat!".I replied, "Yes, honey, remember Mommy has a baby growing in her tummy"."I know", she replied, "but what's growing in your butt?"

A little boy was doing his math homework. He said to himself, "Two plus five, that son of a bitch is seven. Three plus six, that son of a bitch is nine."His mother heard what he was saying and gasped "What are you doing?"The little boy answered "I'm doing my math homework, Mom.""And this is how your teacher taught you to do it?" the mother asked."Yes", he answered. Infuriated, the mother asked the teacher the next day, "What are you teaching my son in math?"The teacher replied, "Right now, we are learning addition."The mother asked, "And are you teaching them to say two plus two, that son of a bitch is four?"After the teacher stopped laughing, she answered, "What I taught them was, two plus two, THE SUM OF WHICH, is four."

One day the first grade teacher was reading the story of Chicken Little to her class. She came to the part of the story where Chicken Little tried to warn the farmer. She read, ".... and so Chicken Little went up to the farmer and said, 'The sky is falling, the sky is falling!' ".The teacher paused then asked the class, "And what do you think that farmer said?".One little girl raised her hand and said, "I think he said: "Holy Shit! A talking chicken!".The teacher was unable to teach for the next 10 minutes.

Syrians vote for president in no-contest poll

Syrians were voting on Sunday in a no-contest referendum which will give President Bashar al-Assad another seven years at the helm of a Middle East regional heavyweight.

With parliament unanimously approving the candidature of the 41-year-old president for a second term, and with vocal opponents of the regime locked up, the referendum will inevitably annoint Assad as president until the year 2014.

All joking aside, we aren't very far from this. Bush does have ability to spy on anyone, label anyone an enemy combatant, refuse habeas corpus and, under the flimsiest of excuses, declare martial law.

Congress looks for change in Iraq

We'll just have to wait and see. Personally I think they're giving ol' George too much credit. He's not reading any writing on the walls unless its in the men's room.

Expectations are mounting in Congress, including among the White House's Republican backers, that President George W. Bush will later this year have little option but to change course in Iraq.

Despite Bush's victory over anti-war Democrats in securing a new US$100 billion budget to fund the war through September, attention on Capitol Hill is already shifting to the bitter political fights to come.

Lawmakers left Washington for a week-long recess as a report said huge cuts in the current 147,000-strong US garrison in Iraq could be in the offing.

"I feel a direction change in the air," Democratic congressman John Murtha, a gruff former Marine and Vietnam veteran said last week, as he intensified his emotional quest to end the war.

Significantly, the top Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, who has largely kept his party in step with the president, despite deep scepticism among some Senators, is also predicting a sea-change in Iraq policy.

"I think the handwriting is on the wall that we are going in a different direction in the fall, and I expect the president himself to lead it," McConnell said on Friday.

Yes, Congress can change the direction in Iraq, but seem reluctant to do so. Bush will never admit he's been wrong. Its not in his nature. He only understands force and force is exactly what Congress will have to use on him.

Airport Ag Inspectors: We Lied on Forms

This is the sort of culture a country develops when top government officials lie, cheat, steal, break laws, etc., etc., etc....

Six customs inspectors have told federal officials that superiors instructed them to enter false data indicating airline passengers had been stopped and inspected for plant and animal contraband.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers allege that in 2005, supervisors at Orlando Sanford International Airport told them to falsify information typically gathered during direct interviews and inspections of international passengers or crew members, according to a report by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

...

The inspectors told the Special Counsel's office that they were instructed to enter the false data because the airport was busy.

South Korea joins rush to build ever taller buildings

Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur

This is an interesting enough story in its own right, but that's not why I'm posting about it. Note the emphasis I've added.

On a stretch of reclaimed land, near where General Douglas MacArthur's forces came ashore during the Korean War, this city will build a towering monument to its rising ambitions: twin skyscrapers reaching 2,013 feet into the sky, higher than the tallest building in the world today.

Developers in neighboring Seoul responded by increasing the height of a skyscraper they were planning by 66 feet. In December, the chief of a Seoul ward announced an even more grandiose plan to erect a 220-story building that, at almost 3,200 feet, would be twice as high as the Sears Tower in Chicago.

Uh, reclaimed land for the world's tallest building? Doesn't sound like a good plan to me.

I chose the Petronas Towers for the illustration because:

1. They used to be the world's tallest.2. They're beautiful.3. They're, like, uh, towers.

Recruiters Corrupt Guestworker Program

Should this be filed under "unintended consequences" or just under "they are brown people so to hell with them"?

Standing in the baking sun outside the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey, hundreds of Mexicans wait anxiously for temporary work visas. But even before they were fingerprinted and interviewed for the permit, many had already paid recruiters thousands of dollars in hopes of easing the way.

Supplying the U.S. guestworker program is a complex and sometimes criminal network of foreign recruiters who extort money from poor migrants and then keep them on the job by forcing them into debt or threatening their families back home.

Employers also are often at the recruiters' mercy, forced to accept workers who could be desperately in debt or simply wrong for the job.

And when their brief glimpse of the American dream becomes a nightmare, some legal guest workers simply disappear, melting into the growing U.S. population of illegal immigrants.

"Everyone has the same complaint. Everyone you see here is in debt," said Gilberto Escalante, a 41-year-old fisherman who swept his arm past at a crowd of migrant hopefuls waiting for visas outside the consulate in Monterrey. "But there aren't any other options. The company calls the recruiter direct, and the recruiter has all the power."

All employers need to do to secure federal permission to hire foreign workers is provide proof that no American wants the job. Once that request is granted, companies rely on recruiters to do the rest, and the U.S. government stands back.

This was inevitable. I was going to mention that before, but thought everyone would have realized it. One of the first things to be done in any new program is build in safeguards from the hyenas who'll do whatever they can to take advantage of it and exploit the poor.

Must read IMHO

Few in Washington DC ever seem to step back and see the forest. Some do.

Editor's note: After a week that saw Democrats cave to the White House in the worst possible way on Iraq, we thought this speech, offered on the House floor by Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wa., last Wednesday, was worth highlighting. In a brief, five-minute commentary, McDermott does something almost unheard of in Washington: He looks at an issue in its larger historical context instead of pretending it just sprung up overnight like mushrooms after a rainfall.

Must read IMHO

In my previous post, I mentioned that Maj. Gen Ashraf Rifi, the head of the Internal Security Forces told me, he “thinks the army will have to go in” to Nahr el-Bared to uproot the militants of Fatah al-Islam.

“They are very dangerous,” he told me in his plush office. “We have no choice, we have to combat them.”

Different post (his previous one).

But that rascally sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has thrown a spanner in the works, it seems. Yesterday was Liberation Day, a national holiday commemorating the retreat of the Israelis from southern Lebanon in 2000. Nasrallah took the opportunity to warn against going into the camps, saying an assault by the army was “a red line” and that the opposition wanted no part of it.

“The Nahr al-Bared camp and Palestinian civilians are a red line,” Nasrallah said, according to Al-Nahar. “We will not accept or provide cover or be partners in this.”

About Me

Spent many years programming, mostly mainframes. Been in business for myself, sky dived, scuba dived, practiced karate (until the broken ribs & finger), driven a sprint car (unreal). Want the US to be great again and worry it's impossible. I consider myself a moderate because I believe most Americans don't approve of torture, do want everyone to have health care, a pension and/or a job, privacy, freedom and NO WAR. Not too radical. I use profanity like a sailor so you should leave if you are sensitive.

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